by Travis Cragg
Austin Butler as "ELVIS"
As anticipated here last month, Baz Luhrmann's Elvis has dominated the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards this week. The musical biopic won a total of 11 statues. But the wealth wasn’t completely hoovered up by the Memphis biopic, as some other uniquely Australian stories managed to pick up awards as well. The full results for film are after the jump…
AWARDS WON BY ELVIS
- Film
- Direction - Baz Luhrmann
- Lead Actor – Austin Butler
- Supporting Actress – Olivia DeJonge
- Cinematography - Mandy Walker
Walker is the first woman to win an Australian film award for Cinematography (AACTA or its predecessor AFI) which means the AACTAs beat both Oscar and BAFTA to that milestone!
- Costume Design - Catherine Martin
- Editing - Matt Villa, Jonathan Redmond
- Production Design - Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Beverley Dunn
- Sound - David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson, Michael Keller
- Hair and Makeup - Shane Thomas, Louise Coulston, Mark Coulier, Jason Baird
- Visual Effects or Animation - Tom Wood, Fiona Crawford, Julian Hutchens, Joshua Simmonds, Adam Hammond
NON-ELVIS WINNERS
Sean Harris in "THE STRANGER"
- Supporting Actor – Sean Harris (The Stranger)
This could be counted as an Aussie version of category fraud – I’d love to know the comparison of screen times between Joel Edgerton and Harris. But this can be forgiven, because (a) the Englishman did give a powerhouse performance as the mysterious title character, and (b) at least it meant the voters didn’t get starstruck and award Tom Hank’s broad Colonel Parker impression. (The Stranger is currently streaming on Netflix in the US)
- Screenplay – The Stranger (Thomas M Wright)
- Lead Actress – Leah Purcell (The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson)
This can be regarded as an award for everything that Purcell did for the film, including writing, directing and producing it (not to mention also working on it previously as a play and a book). But she did say in her speech that this was the award she wanted most, and she dedicated it to her recent departed aunt:
“Not only did [the character] represent my mother, my great-grandmother and all the aunties that have gone before me in a trying time in this country; I also wanted it to represent the women of the land who struggled and the hardship that came with that.”
- Indie Film – A Stitch in Time
- Casting - The Twelve
The casting award is the only award that covers both film and television. Elvis was nominated but the prize went to this crime drama miniseries
- Original Score – Falling for Figaro (Cezary Skubiszewski)
Upon reflection, a win for score in a movie about an amateur opera singer competition seems an obvious pick…
- Short Film – Finding Jedda
- Documentary – River
- Original Score in a Documentary – River (Richard Tognetti, William Barton, Piers Burbrook de Vere)
- Cinematography in a Documentary – Facing Monsters (Rick Rifici)
- Sound in a Documentary – Facing Monsters (Jeremy Ashton, Ric Curtin, Xoe Baird)
- Editing in a Documentary – We Were Once Kids (Shannon Swan)
We Were Once Kids has been retitled simply Kids. (None of the documentary winners are eligible for Best Documentary Feature at the US Oscars)
Catherine Martin. Photographed by Brendon Thorne / Getty Images for AFI
- The Longford Lyell Award – Catherine Martin
The most prolific Australian Oscar winner received the lifetime achievement award for her work (in creative partnership with Baz Luhrmann) on costumes and production design. She joked:
“My own work is indivisible from my creative partnership with Baz Luhrmann, who has been my husband for 25 years. I know — I need an award for that too.
- The Trailblazer Award (recognising the achievements, abilities, and success of an Australian screen practitioner who inspires others in the industry) – Chris Hemsworth